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Search for Copernicus Over

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the lost-and-found dept.

blamanj writes "Nikolaus Kopernik, aka Copernicus, father of modern heliocentric theory, was buried in Frombork Cathedral (Poland) after he died in 1543. However, the cathedral's tombs were a mess, and it was unclear exactly where he was. Archaeologists now believe they've found his remains, and are planning to do DNA testing to verify. The search began in 2004."

4 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. He must still be alive! by stirz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've seen two photos of the reconstructed head over at German "Spiegel online" and I the first thing that came to my mind was: "That's James Cromwell". Just compare some photos on your own. The similarity is really amazing:-)

    Regards,
    Stirz

  2. Re:DNA Testing... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Anyone know how accurate this will actually be?

    Seeing that they claim to be able to extract DNA from these bones, I imagine they could raid the burial sites of his known relatives of the day, and their descendants, right up to the present day.

    That way you would get a trail of DNA from the past to the present, which would make matching easier.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  3. Damned smartass historians. by Vo0k · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm Pole, and obviously we had more focus on Copernicus in our schools than the US kids (not to mention our schools serve about thrice the amount of knowledge...)
    So we were taught the life and findings of Copernicus, and as for his death, we were informed that his corpse lies in the Frombork Cathedral.
    Now I wonder if any kid on a visit to Frombork asked the teacher to see Copernicus' tomb, what would they do? "ups... well, we KNOW he is in the cathedral... somewhere..."

    --
    Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
  4. As the old verse says by Flying+pig · · Score: 4, Interesting
    (Apologies for spelling errors this is from memory)

    Der Himmel nicht die Erde umgeht
    Wie die Gelehrten meynen

    Muss jeden Mann sein Wurm gewiss
    Kopernikus des seinen

    (roughly The heavens do not go round the Earth as the learned held. Every man will get eaten by worms, even Copernicus)

    --
    Pining for the fjords